Online or in the mail, chess stays in the game

It’s going to take more than a deadly global pandemic to shut down the game we love.

While over-the-board tournaments may be on hold, there’s still plenty of chess being played, whether by humans over the internet or by coronavirus-immune machines.

World champ Magnus Carlsen has already announced a star-studded online invitational event starting this weekend on the Chess24 website. Carlsen and a few pals — including American superstar GMs Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, Chinese GM Ding Liren and French No. 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave — will play a round-robin of rapid matches, with the top four finishers moving to a knockout tournament.

Chess players are also still “going postal,” with Russian SIM Andrey Kochemasov having just been confirmed as the 30th world correspondence chess champion.

The use of computer programs as an aid in analysis has been a very mixed blessing for we fans of postal/online chess — four of the 17 players in the finals drew every one of their games — but there is still room for creative, deeply analyzed play.

Against fellow Russian GM Sergey Nefedov, Kochemasov gave a virtuoso clinic on how to play against the King’s Indian, rolling up Black’s queenside while his opponent’s kingside counterplay barely registers. Still, it is notoriously hard to break down a defense in postal, when your opponent has days to react to your threats.

After 34. Rxg7 Rxg7 35. Rc2, Kochemasov dominates the critical open lines and key squares, but there’s still work to do: 35…Rf8 36. Bg4 Qd8 37. Qc8 Qe7 (Qxc8?! 38. Nxc8 Rd8 39. Rc7+ Kh8 40. Na7! Bd3 41. Nf2 Bb1 42. Rxb7 wins a key pawn) 38. Qe6 Qxe6 39. Bxe6 40. Kg1 Bd3 41. Rd2, when 41…Bb5! 42. Nc8 Bc7 43. Nc3 Bc4 44. Nb1 Bb5 45. Na3 Ba4 leaves White with a lot of work to do.

Instead, on the game’s 41…Bxe4?! 42. Nc3 Bf5 43. Bxf5 Rxf5 44. Ne4 Rf7 45. Nc4, White’s pressure is too much, even with the pawn deficit. Black’s center and queenside pawns fall, and in the final position, Nefedov resigns in the face of lines such as 58…Rc5 59. a6 Rxc4 60. a7 Ra4 61. a8=Q Rxa8 62. Nxa8 Ke6 63. Rxh5 Kxd6 64. Ke3, and White’s material edge and g-pawn are sufficient for the win.

Computer-on-computer action is also largely unaffected by the coronavirus shutdown. Today’s second game comes from the recent TCEC Computer Program tournament, dominated by the Stockfish program, which scored seven wins and no losses in the 33-round event.

Far be it from me to criticize the opening book of a program with a 3812 rating, but tailender Scorpio NN may need an upgrade to judge from its play on the White side of its French-like opening against Komodo 2305.05.

Black gets all the trumps out of the early play, setting up a nice breakthrough — 23. Bd1 Be8! (very Karpovian — the operation begins only when every piece is on its best square) 24. Kh2 Qb5 25. Re2 Qb3! 26. Ncxd4!? (see diagram; White must have seen something we humans can’t make out in 26. Nce1 Qa2 27. Rc1 b5 28. Ng5 Bd7 29. Ne4 Qd5, with seemingly just a slight edge for Black) Ncxd4! 27. Bxb3 Nxb3 28. Qd1 Rc1!, winning back the queen with a far superior position.

White’s miserably placed pieces can’t sustain the fight after 40. Nxb7 Bb5! (better than 40…Bxb7 41. Rxa4 Bc7 42. Ra7) 41. Rc8 (Nxa5 Nxb2!) Nc5+ 42. Kg1 Nxb7 43. Rb8 Bc5, and Scorpio’s programmers could have resigned honorably here. The silicon monsters play it out to the bitter end, with the lonely White king finally mated on f1.

Kochemasov-Nefedov, 30th World Correspondence Championship Final, 2017

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Ne8 10. c5 f5 11. Nd2 Nf6 12. a4 g5 13. Nc4 f4 14. f3 Ng6 15. cxd6 cxd6 16. Nb5 Ne8 17. Kh1 Rf7 18. Bd2 Bf8 19. Be1 Bd7 20. Na5 Qb8 21. Rc1 Rg7 22. Bf2 Kh8 23. Qb3 a6 24. Nc3 Nf6 25. Nc4 g4 26. fxg4 Nxg4 27. Nb6 Nxf2+ 28. Rxf2 Qa7 29. a5 Be7 30. Nd1 Rd8 31. Rc7 Bg5 32. Qc3 Qb8 33. Bf3 Bb5 34. Rxg7 Kxg7 35. Rc2 Rf8 36. Bg4 Qd8 37. Qc8 Qe7 38. Qe6 Qxe6 39. Bxe6 Bd8 40. Kg1 Bd3 41. Rd2 Bxe4 42. Nc3 Bf5 43. Bxf5 Rxf5 44. Ne4 Rf7 45. Nc4 Rd7 46. Ncxd6 b6 47. Nc4 Rc7 48. Nxb6 Rc1+ 49. Kf2 Rb1 50. Nc5 Kf7 51. d6 Rxb4 52. Nxa6 Rb5 53. Nc4 e4 54. Rd1 Nh4 55. g3 fxg3+ 56. hxg3 Nf3 57. Rh1 h5 58. Nc7 Black resigns.

ScorpioNN — Komodo 2503.05, TCEC 20 Computer Championship, March 2020

1. e4 c5 2. f4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. c3 Nge7 6. d3 h5 7. Na3 Nf5 8. Nc2 d4 9. Be2 Be7 10. cxd4 cxd4 11. O-O Bd7 12. Bd2 a5 13. Be1 h4 14. Bf2 Qb6 15. a3 a4 16. Rb1 Rc8 17. h3 O-O 18. Kh1 Rfd8 19. Qe1 Qb3 20. Qd2 Rc7 21. Rfc1 Qb6 22. Re1 Rdc8 23. Bd1 Be8 24. Kh2 Qb5 25. Re2 Qb3 26. Ncxd4 Ncxd4 27. Bxb3 Nxb3 28. Qd1 Rc1 29. Rxc1 Rxc1 30. Qg1 Rxg1 31. Kxg1 Bd8 32. Rc2 Bc6 33. Rc4 Kf8 34. Ng5 Ke7 35. Rc2 Ba5 36. Ne4 Nbd4 37. Rc4 Ne2+ 38. Kf1 Nxf4 39. Nd6 Nxd3 40. Nxb7 Bb5 41. Rc8 Nc5+ 42. Kg1 Nxb7 43. Rb8 Bc6 44. Ra8 Bc7 45. Ra6 Kd7 46. Ra7 Bxe5 47. b4 axb3 48. Rxb7+ Bxb7 49. Bxh4 b2 50. Bf6 b1=Q+ 51. Kf2 Qc2+ 52. Ke1 Bg3+ 53. Kf1 Qxg2 mate.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.